... no importance to him. His whole life is unconnected with material things. In Act 1 on page 7 we see the Bedlam talking to Mompesson and Catherine who is Mompesson's wife. The Bedlam calls Catherine 'Rose'. This is ironic because whilst this seems almost a compliment, comparing her to a flower, I think he is predicting that Catherine is going to die as he also says, 'all roses must be pruned at the end of summer.' He also calls Mompesson, 'Blackman' - this is because black is the colour of death and Mompesson is wearing black. Also black Africans were slaves and Mompesson is kind of a slave to God. The Bedlam symbolises chaos and the plague. On page 40 at the beginning of Act 2 there are 3 graves but the Bedlam says that he can see many graves 'all in a line.' He goes on to say that he can ...

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